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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29252007">This Too Shall Pass</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperxcrowns/pseuds/paperxcrowns'>paperxcrowns</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Bad Parents Jack and Janet Drake, Bittersweet Ending, Canon Temporary Character Death, Dana Winters-Drake is the only emotionally stable parent Tim has what a queen, Dick and Damian are mentioned, Emotional Hurt, So is Bruce, Timeline What Timeline, Unresolved Emotional Tension, and it probably shows lol, dana winters is a good mom, reminder that i haven't read red robin in a while, takes place sometimes during red robin, why is this not a tag</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:47:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,313</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29252007</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperxcrowns/pseuds/paperxcrowns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dana wants to meet up with Tim and spend time with her stepson. Tim didn't realize how much he's missed her these past few months.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tim Drake &amp; Dana Winters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>119</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>This Too Shall Pass</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Dana and Tim's relationship is so underrated, and this needs to be fixed immediately</p><p>(also, i promise i love Dick very much, but this is from Tim's pov and he's an unreliable narrator)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“This is nice,” Dana said, after handing the ice cream vendor the total sum of the two ice creams.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim raised his arm to block out the bright afternoon sun, the other holding a paper cup with the scoop of raspberry ice cream and sprinkles he’d ordered. Dana had ordered a cone with two scoops of coffee ice cream.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Yeah. It is,” he said, smiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You wanna keep walking or go to the park? There’s one nearby.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim’s smile widened. “The park is fine,” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dana used her free hand to wipe a drop of melted ice cream before it could drip off the cone as the two walked in the direction of the park. Tim hadn’t seen Dana in months. It had been too long. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d missed her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And she’d texted him saying she’d missed him, too. He couldn’t believe his eyes when she asked if they could hang out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim had been so caught up looking for Bruce, grieving over Kon and Bart, his dad, the loss of Robin, and what had been his life, his family, that he’d almost forgotten Dana.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had no idea he’d been in Greece when she’d called. In a tiny little seaside town called Nafpaktos, recovering from three bullet wounds, one that had shattered his collarbone on impact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d flown back to Gotham almost immediately, and had pushed off contacting Dick. They’d both said things they regretted, and Tim wasn’t ready to talk to Dick just yet. It had been four months and eleven days, and Dick’s words still stung. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The walk was relatively short, and Dana soon found them a large tree to sit under. Tim sat and listened for a moment at the sounds of life and happiness around him. When had he last sat down and let himself appreciate the world around him? How long had it been since he’d actually let himself remember what it felt like to sit under a tree in the summer eating ice cream without the looming threat of Ra’s or the Council of Spiders?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So tell me what you’ve been up to since I last saw you,” Dana said, bumping her shoulder gently against Tim’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim hid the wince as it jostled his still-healing collarbone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not much,” he said. “Everything’s been a lot, and I’m… trying. I’m really trying.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dana smiled gently. “I know, Tim. I know it’s hard. You lost your mother, your father, and your adopted father. I just--” She took a breath, her expression more serious. “I just wanted you to know that I’m here for you. Whenever you need me. Whatever you need. You call me and it doesn’t matter what time it is, I’ll be there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a metal band tightening around Tim’s chest, constricting his lungs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, Dana,” he said softly, stirring the melted remains of his ice cream with the tiny plastic spoon. “It’s-- I’m sorry for not--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He bit the inside of his cheek, forcing the tears away. He couldn’t physically get another word out without crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dana wrapped her arm around his side and pulled him close, resting her chin on top of his head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” she whispered. “I know it’s been a lot. I just wanted to give you and the kids time to-- to properly grieve.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was an illusion. It had been a pretty illusion that shattered like glass with Dana’s words. Tim pulled away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tim--” Dana started.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Things are not okay,” Tim interrupted. Maybe if he talked fast enough he’d get everything out before the urge to cry overpowered his voice. “Things are really not okay, Dana. I haven’t-- I haven’t talked to Dick in four months. I haven’t talked to anyone in </span>
  <em>
    <span>months.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Everyone thinks I’m crazy because--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A sob caught in his throat and the first tears finale spilled free. He wiped furiously and looked away from Dana’s concerned face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because Bruce isn’t dead and </span>
  <em>
    <span>no one</span>
  </em>
  <span> believes me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim couldn’t look up at Dana. Not when he’d lost control of his emotions, not when he could see the pity and concern and the screaming fact that she didn’t believe him. Like Dick. Like Damian. Like Alfred. Like Superman. Like his brothers and sisters. Like his father’s friends. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was the enemy. He was crazy. He was in denial. That’s what they’d said. Dick had thought Arkham of all places would help him. They said they’d wanted to help him, but none of them wanted to be the ones to help him. Professionals could do it. Strangers could do it. He could be someone else’s problem for once. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tim,” Dana said, her voice thick, her hands gripping Tim’s wrists gently. “Tim, please--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They say I need help, but-- Dana--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Trembling, unsteady hands gripped Dana’s warm and steady hands, slightly sticky from the ice cream. It was-- it was grounding. Tim hadn’t had gentle physical contact like that in months. For all of four and a half months, the only times anyone touched him was to hurt him. It almost made him want to cry again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dana, Arkham won’t help. I can’t-- I’m not crazy. Please--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dana broke free of Tim’s grasp and pulled his face up to meet his eyes. Her gaze was steady and unwavering, her hands gentle and soft.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tim,” she said, cutting off Tim’s ranting. “Tim, I know you’re not crazy. And I know that everyone is worried about you at home. Grief makes people say things they don’t always mean.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her thumb brushed a few stray tears away and she smiled at him. She reassured him and smiled at him and cared about him and asked him if he wanted to spend time with her. And he couldn’t stop the tears. The tears for the love Dana gave him that his own mother couldn’t-- hadn’t. That his own father hadn’t, either, even when he’d preached about keeping Tim safe and doing the right thing by ripping him away from Bruce and Robin and making the last few months living with him an absolute hell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He surged forward, pulling Dana into a tight hug. She made a noise of surprise but gently wrapped her arms around him and let him cry himself out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just let it out,’ she murmured against his hair. “We’ll figure everything out, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took a few minutes for Tim to run out of tears. From dehydration. He still felt like crying. He still felt like breaking apart in a thousand little crumbling shards. He finally was able to fall apart because there would be someone there to catch him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tim,” Dana soothed, threading her fingers through Tim’s unkempt hair. “Tim, when were you in Gotham last?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim buried his face in Dana’s shoulder. She smelled like cinnamon and coffee. He hadn’t known how his mother’s perfume smelled like. Or if he’d once known, he surely didn’t remember. He didn’t remember when he’d last hugged her. Or his dad. Maybe very long ago, when he was still worth their attention and care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Were you in Gotham?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her voice was quiet and full of concern.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” he said. “I-- I came back. To try and talk to Dick again--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After almost dying. Again. But this time had been closer than any of the others. This time if he hadn’t been seen when the building had collapsed and dug out before he could suffocate he would have died. He’d gone back to Gotham, not really sure why. Maybe to talk to Dick? To see how he was doing? Tim saw the texts Dick had sent. He hadn’t read any of them. He hadn’t read any of Alfred’s, or Steph’s, or Jason’s, or any of the Justice League’s. He hadn’t answered calls. There were so many ways Dick could check on him, to make sure he was still alive, to try and apologize. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead, he’d seen Dick and Damian jumping from building to building and stopping at a bakery Dick would take</span>
  <em>
    <span> Tim </span>
  </em>
  <span>to after patrol. It wasn’t fair to Damian, but it hurt Tim that even this wasn’t something he and Dick could have just between the two of them. And so he’d gone back to his safe house and left without a word.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you?” Dana asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her hand felt so nice and soothing in his hair. It wasn’t a drug lord twisting his fist in his hair and yanking, it wasn’t a League assassin dragging him by his hair, it wasn’t his hair caught painfully in the knot of a gag or in the residual sticky glue of duct tape. This was gentle and reassuring and he easily melted into it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” he mumbled. He hadn’t been this relaxed in so long he’d forgotten the feeling. “No, he looked happy. He had Damian. He didn’t need me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tim. Dick </span>
  <em>
    <span>does</span>
  </em>
  <span> need you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim reluctantly pulled away from Dana and leaned back against the tree. His face was tacky from the tears, his eyes scratchy and stinging a bit. The shadows around them were lengthening, a telltale sign of how long they’d been sitting here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dana cupped Tim’s cheek so casually. Like she used to when Jack had still been alive, and so had Bruce, and Tim still had a family. Her eyes were sad, though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A breeze was picking up, ruffling Dana’s blond ponytail.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re so much older,” she said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim’s lip curved upward. “It’s only been a few months.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dana shook her head. “Bruce’s death changed you. You shouldn’t have to go through that. And Dick shouldn’t have to go through that either.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim bit back a grimace, but not well enough judging by Dana’s frown. She drew her hand back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dick is fine,” Tim said bitterly. “It’s not</span>
  <em>
    <span> him</span>
  </em>
  <span> they think has gone completely off his rocker.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tim. Dick’s whole world was flipped upside down just like yours when he got the news. He is raising your father’s son alone, and at his age and with what he’s gone through, I don’t think you can tell me that your brother isn’t already in over his head.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim’s hand reached up to prod lightly at his collarbone. He’d thought about that a lot, actually, these past few months. How Dick would react if Tim died. He couldn’t say Dick hadn’t reacted at all when Tim had dropped off the map, but maybe Tim had expected more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe Dick didn’t really want Tim home. He hadn’t gone after him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But could Tim really ask that of him? With Damian-- </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He didn’t believe me,” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The urge to cry was gone, now replaced with familiar exhaustion and weariness. He was too tired and frustrated to try and sympathize with Dick when he’d been the one who’d suggested Arkham. Behind Tim’s back. Dick hadn’t believed Tim and had been willing to brush him off as someone else’s problem. Maybe they’d be okay again one day, but Tim couldn’t trust Dick right now. And it hurt more than he’d expected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He needed to move on, Tim,” Dana said softly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled the rolled-up sleeves of her thin cardigan back down. The sun would set in another few hours, but the air was already cooling down a bit with the dipping sun. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He didn’t believe me,” Tim said. The fight was completely drained out of his voice, leaving behind numb fatigue. “All I would’ve needed is at least </span>
  <em>
    <span>one</span>
  </em>
  <span> person to believe me. I needed my </span>
  <em>
    <span>older brother</span>
  </em>
  <span> to believe me. Just </span>
  <em>
    <span>one--”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Tim’s voice cracked. “Is that too much for me to ask? For my family to trust and believe what I say instead of telling me I need to be committed?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He buried his face in his hands, his eyes burning with unshed tears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dana’s hand was back, running through his long hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want to stay the night with me? I have a guest room. We can go to the Manor tomorrow--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim was already shaking his head, lifting it up after forcing the fresh tears away. “I need to find Bruce, Dana.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pushed himself up to his feet using the tree. Dana stood up, brushing grass from her green summer dress.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please. Please don’t tell Dick I came here,” he begged. “I don’t-- I don’t think either of us are in a good place to talk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Tim’s own fault. He was pushing away Dana’s help just like he’d pushed away Dick’s and Alfred’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dana took his hands in hers and Tim once again startled at the touch. He was thirteen all over again, getting accustomed to casual touches and physical shows of affection from Dick, Bruce, and Alfred. When had he started being used to a lack of touch? Two weeks ago? Two months ago?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I won’t stop you,” she said. “If finding Bruce is what you need to do, then I won’t stop you. But please, Tim, take care of yourself. At least make sure you have someone who can help you if you get in trouble.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled him in a tight hug and Tim wrapped his arms around her. He soaked in the warm touch, unsure how long it would be until he got another hug like that. A few months maybe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Tim whispered. “For everything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt Dana smile against his shoulder. “Thank you for coming, Tim. I hope we can do this again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled away, but Dana gripped his wrist and met his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m serious, Tim,” she said. “If you need help, call me, and I’ll answer. Always.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He met her smile with a sad one of his own, knowing that he probably wouldn’t call her for help. He would worry her, and put her in danger. She wouldn’t be able to reach him in time if he was in dire need of assistance, but he believed it was the thought that counted, here. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time, walking away was the hardest thing Tim had to do. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Tim goes back to look for Bruce, becomes friends with Pru, Z, and Owens, loses his spleen and two of his friends, defeats the League of Assassins and the Council of Spiders, and eventually goes back home with Bruce. Tim invites Dana to the Manor and he starts hanging out with her more often.</p><p>
  <a href="https://blas-ph-emy.tumblr.com/">you can say hi on tumblr :)</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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